Boxer Timothy Bradley stripped of WBC title

Don't know if it's been posted yet but here you go. http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110729/SPORTS03/107290324/Boxer-Timothy-Bradley-stripped-WBC-title?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|p World boxing titles have to be won in the ring, but apparently in the WBC, they don't have to be lost in the ring. And in the case of Cathedral City champion Timothy Bradley, titles also don't have to be stripped for a legitimate reason. On Thursday, for the second time, the WBC stripped the undefeated Bradley of the super lightweight belt. Bradley acknowledged his manager Cameron Dunkin received the letter from the WBC, but hasn't personally seen it. Bradley said he wouldn't comment on the situation until he saw the letter. “That's not right,” said Bradley's trainer, Joel Diaz. “Boxing is no longer a sport. It's a business. It's always been a business, but in the past years, boxing was a sport and everything was done right. Every fighter who fought for the championship, you had to step up.” Bradley's title will be up for grabs on Sept. 17 when Erik Morales and Jorge Barrios square off. Morales-Barrios is on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight in Las Vegas. The move to strip Bradley has brought outrage on the Internet from various boxing websites. Boxing expert Dan Rafael of ESPN posted numerous tweets over the decision with the hashtag of #wbcisdisgusting. One such tweet by Rafael, who has been a tough critic of Bradley of late, said, “Tim Bradley may have made a poor decision to not fight Khan, but in no way should he be stripped by the horrible WBC banditos.” The website for The Ring magazine quoted WBC secretary general Mauricio Sulaiman as saying Bradley's inactivity and Bradley's statements he plans to move up in weight class were the reasons they stripped the title. But Diaz said that runs counters to the WBC rules. Diaz said a fighter has between nine and 11 months to defend his title. But Diaz also pointed out there was no opponent named for a mandatory title defense. “Where's the prestige? There's no more prestige anymore,” Diaz said. “People who know boxing knows it's not right. “It's not fair just for Tim, but for any champion out there.” Morales is a future Hall of Famer, but he was No. 3 in the last WBC rankings behind Devon Alexander at No. 1 and Ajose Olusegun on their website Thursday afternoon. Barrios, who is moving up from 135-pound lightweight division to the 140-pound division, is not even in the WBC rankings for either weight class, which lists 40 boxers. Morales is also coming off a loss to Marcos Maidana. Diaz agrees with the online speculation that the WBC wants Morales to win so he can be the first Mexican fighter to win titles in four divisions. Diaz said the fight should be the top two fighters in the rankings, which is Alexander and Olusegun. “The WBC has lost its value and the prestige it had,” Diaz said. “Before, when you won the WBC title, it meant you were the greatest. Now, it's not.” Olusegun was actually scheduled to fight a WBC title eliminator Sept. 30 against Ali Chebah. Alexander, meanwhile, has said he planned to move up to the 147-pound weight class. This is the second time the WBC has stripped Bradley of the world title. Bradley was to face Alexander in 2009 as a mandatory defense. Instead, Bradley fought Nate Campbell. On the undercard of that Bradley-Campbell fight at Agua Caliente Resort, Alexander beat Junior Witter to claim won the WBC title. The split between Bradley and the WBC was ugly, with WBC president Jose Sulaimán declaring Bradley would never fight for his belt again. But the two appeared to patch up their differences in January, when Bradley did face Alexander in a unification bout. Bradley won by technical decision in the 10th round to reclaim his WBC title on Jan. 29 in Detroit. Bradley has been inactive since winning the WBC belt in January. Bradley was in deep negotiations to fight Amir Khan for the richest payday of his career, but turned down the fight. Now, Bradley is being sued by his co-promoters, Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, for not fighting Khan. Once Bradley can settle the suit, he likely will look for a new promoter.